


Honey Soaked Light

by AetherAria



Category: The Penumbra Podcast
Genre: (the boys are TALKING!!!!), Apologies, Communication, Early Relationship, Established Relationship, Lizard Kissin' Tuesday (Penumbra Podcast), Multi, Second Citadel (Penumbra Podcast)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-26
Updated: 2021-01-26
Packaged: 2021-03-12 19:07:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,368
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29015583
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AetherAria/pseuds/AetherAria
Summary: Damien said many, many things to Lord Arum, before they knew each other properly. Arum still remembers quite a few of those things.
Relationships: Lord Arum/Sir Damien (Penumbra Podcast), Lord Arum/Sir Damien/Rilla (Penumbra Podcast)
Comments: 22
Kudos: 70





	Honey Soaked Light

**Author's Note:**

> i have a headacheeeeeee and i'm a mess. <3 Title from the song Catch Me, by fcj.

Arum peels himself from the wide rock as soon as he sees Damien, his throat rattling as he slithers to stand. He rubs muzzily at his snout with one clawed hand, almost wincing, and Damien's mouth curls into a bemused smile.

"Did I… wake you?" he asks softly, stepping closer. "I'm terribly sorry, my lily, if I had known you were napping-"

The second wince is more pronounced, and Damien's hand pauses in the air between them as Arum stands straighter, stiff and uncomfortable with his eyes squinting hard against the sunlight and fixed on anything but Damien himself.

"I was not _napping_ ," he mutters, his tone on the last word dripping with disdain, and Damien buries a laugh. It must have shown on his face regardless, though, because Arum's own expression flattens further, his eyes flashing. "Move," he hisses.

Damien blinks, and then he sidesteps out of the balcony doorway, ducking his head. "I'm sorry," he says again, "I swear that I was not laughing at you, my lily, I was only-" he hesitates as Arum brushes past him with a growl, retreating back into the Keep proper. "I was only- confused, as to why you would be embarrassed for me to find you resting-"

"I was not _embarrassed_ ," Arum growls over his shoulder, his steps clipped and quick, and Damien-

Damien is almost afraid to follow, but- but he doesn't even know what he's done _wrong_. His boots scuff against the rough bark of the floor as he turns in hesitant pursuit.

"Have I… have I said something- wrong? Have I-"

"I was finished out there regardless," the monster mutters, still not looking, and Damien's heart squeezes uncomfortably in his chest.

"I… Arum," Damien says weakly, and the monster does not stop or turn, but his stiff shoulders sink, just slightly. "I was coming to find you because I wished to- to spend time with you. I don't know what I've done, but- please. Just- look at me, please."

Arum's steps slow, and then he sighs as he loses his momentum entirely. "You- what makes you think you've done anything at all?" he mutters, tilting his head and not _quite_ looking back enough that Damien can see his vivid, lovely eyes.

"The fact that you seem furious with me and- and apparently will not even _look_ at me. Arum, I- I care about you rather a great deal, and if I've broken some unspoken agreement or broached some etiquette of which I'm not aware-"

" _Monsters_ are not overly concerned with etiquette," Arum rumbles.

Damien blinks at the emphasis, and then he steps a little closer. "Then- what have I done? If the simple act of coming to speak with you when I was not expected is enough to make you unhappy with me- I- I simply do not wish to repeat such offense-"

Arum finally spins, frowning hard with his brow furrowed, but when he meets Damien's eyes the flash of- anger? Irritation? Fear? Whatever it is- it dissolves, and Arum looks only stiff and uncomfortable and embarrassed. He sighs, then looks away again.

"You've done nothing today to offend," he mutters. "Considering our… our respective positions, certainly you will forgive if I am… reluctant to show you the more _inhuman_ of my proclivities."

Damien blinks, unable for a long moment to parse precisely what Arum is trying to say.

"Er… I don't see that there is anything particularly inhuman about-" he remembers Arum's insistence that he was not _napping_ , and corrects slightly, "resting, Arum. And-" he bites his lip, rubbing a hand awkwardly down his own bicep. "And I thought… I had thought that we had… something of an understanding, my lily. If we are on the subject of your inhumanity, your monstrousness- well, I thought you knew that I am quite growing to l-" an inhale, sharp, and then he gives a stuttered laugh, "to like that about you."

"Perhaps I do not wish to remind you of my nature when it need not bear such scrutiny," Arum says, still not meeting his eyes.

Damien risks a step closer, then, and Arum's mouth curls into a deeper frown, though he does not pull away when Damien touches his wrist.

"My lily… no human could ever have eyes like yours, and yet your eyes were the first brilliant facet of yours to pierce my heart." Damien smiles when Arum flicks those eyes towards him finally, wary and sharp and always, always beautiful. "You do not need to shear away the traits you do not think I will approve of. You do not need to-"

"I- I don't care about your _approval_ ," Arum spits, leaning back as Damien lifts his other hand, and at the flinch Damien pulls his hand away. "I don't-"

He cuts off, clenching his teeth and hissing through them, and Damien forces himself to keep his breathing slow, forces himself not to take Arum's rebuff to heart. The monster sighs, then drops his eyes to the floor.

"I… apologize. I- approval would imply- would imply an imbalance between us that I do not believe exists, you must understand. Obviously your… your- opinion of me is something that I wish to- your opinion of me- it matters," he says quietly. "More than I prefer to admit."

"So…" Damien says slowly, brushing his thumb along Arum's wrist since he still has not pulled out from Damien's light grasp, "is that… the concern? I cannot see what you could have been doing out there that would in any way lower my opinion of you, my lily."

"I was-" Arum hesitates, then rolls his eyes with an exaggerated huff. " _Basking_ ," he sneers, and Damien thinks that the clear derision on his face is- is directed at _himself_ , and not at Damien.

Damien stares at the monster, waiting for him to continue, but after a moment it becomes clear that Arum thinks this explanation sufficient. Damien ducks his head slightly, raising an eyebrow in Arum's direction.

"Ah?"

Arum huffs again, wrinkling his snout. "So," he says, dry and sardonic, "yes, indeed, the lizard does, on occasion, devote a portion of his time to _bask in the sun_." His frill flares, a proud little flutter at his neck, and he sticks his nose in the air. "Though- though I have no _eggs_ upon which to sit."

Damien stares for another moment, and then-

His own damnable words from their first duel come rushing back to him.

"Oh," he says, partway to a groan, and then he slaps his free hand over his face, cringing into his palm. "Oh Saints above strike me down- oh, Arum I-"

Arum twists his wrist in Damien's other hand, curling his claws around Damien's pulse.

"Honeysuckle-"

"I try not to even _think_ of how wretchedly I-" Damien shakes his head, squeezing his eyes shut. "Every nasty, cruel thing I thought or said about you- of course you have every right, every right in the world to feel-"

"Go on and call me a hypocrite, honeysuckle," Arum says quickly, and Damien peeks through his fingers to see the monster scowling again. "Not a single word that _I_ said in our duels- never once have you thrown my own callousness back in my face, and I- I certainly don't mean to- to do so now. It is only that …" he winces, ducks his head, and his next words come in a mutter. "I sometimes think that it is _impossible_ to forget a single word you say, honeysuckle. Your voice- I cannot forget, and for the _most_ part that is- it is not unpleasant, to remember the ways you have… spoken your heart to me. But-"

"But," Damien repeats, his heart sinking, "but my- my sharper words, of course-"

"You said it with such _disdain_ ," Arum murmurs, wincing. "I do not _mean_ to remember, of course. And it does not _matter_ , we were trying to _kill_ each other at the time- why should it matter, what barbed words we spat when we knew each other not at all? It was not even _cruel_ , it was-"

"An intentional and pointed contrast between your intellectual interests and any connection to inhumanity- an animal nature I assumed you to have," Damien says, tone flat with an edge of self-loathing. "It _was_ cruel."

"We were trying to _kill_ each other," Arum says again. "Sharp words pale beside sharper _blades_ , honeysuckle."

"Regardless. If such sharp words have left a mark upon you, Arum-"

"I shouldn't have-" Arum shakes his head. "It was- foolish of me to allow those feelings to intrude on our current- our-"

"I'm sorry," Damien says, and when Arum's eyes flick towards him he tries a small sort of smile, and squeezes Arum's wrist. "I am. I know we have already forgiven each other, and for transgressions far more dire, but nevertheless. I'm sorry, to have implied such distaste. I had no idea of what I even spoke, and- and now I know better, and I know that the pieces of you and your life that I could not possibly have known or understood when first we met- those parts of you I have discovered to be the most beautiful, the most worthy of being treasured."

"I-" Arum's breath cuts off, and he laughs a little weakly, a little breathlessly. "Prattler- I do not know how you manage to speak so- so-"

"I am sorry," Damien repeats, even more gently, and he bites his lip before he looks up into Arum's eyes again. "Will you forgive me?"

Arum makes a choked little noise, almost a gasp, and then he growls as he leans down and presses his cheek against Damien's. "Of _course_ , don't be ridiculous, honeysuckle, I- it was never a matter of- I only know that it is not _easy_ for you to- to-"

Damien's heart _pulses_ as he fills in the gaps in Arum's words. "L-lily," he whispers, and then he kisses Arum's neck. "My lily, it is _easy_ to care for you, just as it is to care for Rilla. If it has escaped your notice, dear monster, I am terribly enamored with you both."

"I simply do not wish to- to give you reason to think about- _further_ reason to-"

Damien lifts his face a little further, so that he may place his next kiss to Arum's frill, the delicate webbing of scales. "I am perfectly aware of your nature, my lily. You will not break my affection for you by allowing me to see you as you are. And especially-" he leans back, ensuring that Arum meets his eyes again before he continues, "especially, I might say, with an act so innocuous and, in fact, _charming_ , as sunbathing."

Arum wrinkles his snout, just slightly. " _Sunbathing_ ," he repeats with a rumbling sort of laugh. "Hm."

"You look… always, my lily, you look so, so beautiful in the sunlight," Damien offers, and Arum's hand flexes in Damien's grip. "I cannot erase what unkind things I said in the past, but… but perhaps I can offer enough words now, enough affection to bury that small, stale voice still echoing away. I- I feel blessed, Arum, with every moment I may spend with you. Even the _idea_ of laying beside you, resting tenderly together in radiance, sunlit and safe-"

"I- Damien," Arum rumbles, flustered as his frill rises again. "You- you don't need to- to exaggerate your-"

"I would never dream of it." Damien smiles, then lifts Arum's hand to his mouth to kiss his knuckles. "I should hope, by now, that you know me that well, at least. My heart _sings_ at the idea, my lily. Perhaps… perhaps the next time you wish to soak in the sweetness of the day… perhaps you could be convinced to allow me to join you?"

Arum swallows, and then he flicks his tongue as he squeezes Damien's hand. "I… I cannot imagine that you should like to waste away such a portion of your day simply lazing around."

"Never in a thousand years would I consider such time as _wasted_ , Arum. And-" he pauses, feeling his cheeks heat. "And I … I imagine that I would be rather _productive_ , during such time, in fact. Even if I did not bring my parchment… bearing witness to your elegance in repose, I do not think I would be able to resist the inspiration."

Arum breathes a laugh, mutters _prattler_ fondly under his breath again, and then- he glances over his shoulder.

The yellow gleam of the day outside still lights the far end of the hallway. It is not as if they have wandered _far_.

Arum glances back down to Damien, and Damien raises an eyebrow.

"You…" Arum trails off, then tilts his head. "Hm. I don't suppose that you would… that right _now_ , you would care to…"

"I spoke truly when I said my purpose today was only to spend some time together, my lily," he says, struggling to keep the way his heart _leaps_ from overtaking his voice in trembling. "If you should like… I would love nothing more."

Arum works his jaw for a moment, his frill betraying his embarrassment with an anxious flutter, and then the monster huffs out a breath and in one smooth, shocking motion he releases Damien's hand to instead slip two around Damien's back and two beneath his legs, lifting him off of his feet and into Arum's arms. Damien laughs, delight and surprise pooling together within him, and he grips Arum's shoulder for support as he smiles.

"Arum-"

"I think you'll soon learn to regret this offer, little honeysuckle," Arum rumbles, smirking despite the warm affection in his eyes, and he turns to carry Damien back towards the sunlit balcony as he continues. "You are nearly as warm as the day itself, and I cannot say that even your own clever words will convince me to part with your glow, now that you've offered."

"I am sorry to contradict you, Lord Arum," Damien says, and then he pauses to laugh again as Arum's grip tightens, hugging him more snugly to the monster's scaled chest. "But I can assure you that if what you say is true, I will not regret a single word."

**Author's Note:**

> (damien spends the entirety of this fic STRUGGLING not to accidentally call arum "love" because they haven't said it yet at this point. but ch'boy is FEELING IT today. i only point this out because i feel like it's probably OBVIOUS and also it was a frickin ENDEAVOR to keep me/him from writing "my love" intermingled with those "my lily"s, and there are a few... "care for you"s in there that are VERY obvious deflections, I feel. Ridiculous poet. ANYWAY. happy lkt ilu <3)

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [[Podfic] Honey Soaked Light](https://archiveofourown.org/works/29760141) by [screamingatstars](https://archiveofourown.org/users/screamingatstars/pseuds/screamingatstars)




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